Once Is Enough

My father-in-law recently celebrated his 87th birthday.  And what do you do for a man who has lived that many years and has pretty much everything he needs?  Try to make him a special card, of course.  I wanted to make a show of his uniqueness, so I thought this stamp might be appropriate to do just that.  You'll see what I mean when you read the inside sentiment............

As you can see, the card itself is made very simply.  The sentiments are from Stampin'Up and the main image stamp comes from Lost Coast Stamps.  The sentiment reads, "You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough."  I hope dear fil took it in the manner in which it was intended.  I believe he did.

The second card is my dd's card to her granddad.  We wanted it to be a bit more playful so we had a little fun with it, and put sentiments on the front, the inside, and even the back!

The back reads, "Today, I eat cake. (yum yum)"  As you can see, I carried the dp from the front to the inside and back as well for continuity, keeping the stripes going in the same direction each time.  Spellbinders Deckled Edge Rectangles and Labels Four were used for the front and inside.  Stamps are Pink By Design, Stampin'Up and Hampton Art.  Papers are Recollections and Generations.

I hope you're enjoying your day.  It's very dreary here, but my dd and I have been enjoying episodes of "Downton Abbey," a series from PBS' Masterpiece Theatre.  We both love a good 'costumer,' and there's lots of British upstairs/downstairs intrigue.

See you again soon.  Until then keep your creative genius flowing................

CHRISTINE

18 Hours Later.......

It's melting like crazy here today.  I gave it 'til Tuesday, but I think it will have disappeared by tomorrow.  The pretty pink blossoms didn't survive, but the two bradford pear trees are still looking gorgeous.  Nope, that isn't snow on them now!  Isn't the sky the most exquisite blue.................

Couldn't resist showing these to you.  I'll be back with the cards later.

CHRISTINE

Six More Hours of Snow

Just thought I'd show you a few pics of our little visit of winter today.  It started with a long loud peal of thunder which ended in a boom, and the snow came shortly after.  Been snowing all afternoon, and it's forecast to continue until around midnight.  If I didn't know it would be gone by Tuesday, I'd probably be feeling really bummed right now.  The first photo is out the back door to our deck.

This picture was taken from dd's bedroom window down the hill.

My last picture was taken out the front door across the street.  What was a beautiful little tree full of pink blossoms is now covered in white snow.  I don't know if you can see traces of the pink -- it looked so pretty yesterday.

Hope your weather is nicer where you are.  I'll be back tomorrow with some cards for you.  Thanks for stopping by!!

Big warm hugs!

CHRISTINE

Blessings

Hello, my friends.  I have one new card to show you today.  It's another card that my daughter requested for some friends who lost a family member.  She wasn't sure what she wanted on the card this time, but I know this family a bit, so I came up with an idea based on that knowledge.  My daughter was pleased with the result.

This card is very simple in design.  The frame around the cross is actually a piece left from a mat that I cut for another card.  The cross and the sentiments, inside and out, are embossed in gold, and the background stamp is in brown ink.

The script stamp is from Inkadinkado.  The cross and sentiments are from the Crosses of Hope set by Stampin' Up!

Sympathy cards are always a bit difficult to design.  More than other cards, they need to convey just the right feeling.  I believe this card did that for my daughter.

Thanks for your visit today.  I hope you're enjoying these early days of Spring, and remember,

keep your creative genius flowing........................

CHRISTINE 

I'm finally doing the TANGLE

Happy Friday everyone!  I can't believe how fast this week has gone, but I'm keeping my promise about getting back to posting
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I'm sure you've all heard about Zentangle.  But, if you haven't, it's a form of drawing in repeating patterns.  It's not unlike doodling in it's basic form, but it goes beyond because it uses patterns that can be taught, whereas doodling is totally spur-of-the-moment mostly mindless drawing.  There are certified Zentanglers out there - I am NOT one of them, and books and lots of info on the web if you're interested in more detail.

I first heard of Zentangle when one of my local shops was having a 'demo day.'  They had lots of other things going on, but this was the only one I had never heard of before.  It was shortly before Halloween, so our demo included stamped images of witches' hats and pumpkins.  The explanation we were given wasn't especially true to the Zentangle code, and I don't think I captured the spirit in my two sample pieces.

This is my first sample, a witch's hat.  Knowing what I know now about Zentangle, I think this first effort is really lacking in depth, but, still, it was fun to do.  It was done with an ordinary ball point pen.

My second attempt, I think, is a bit better, but still bland.  It's a funky pumpkin.  Also done with ball point pen.

My more recent effort is done in the way Zentangle is initially taught.  That is, using a roughly 3X3" tile and a good quality art drawing pen, in my case a Sakura Micron 01.  Also, all the patterns I used are among the 'official' Zentangle patterns.  I must say, I am much more pleased with this one.  Pleased enough, in fact, that I will do more of this Zentangling.

I hope you enjoyed my first foray into this trendy art form.  It's been taking the crafting world by storm!

As always, thanks so much for visiting, and remember to keep your creative genius flowing...................

CHRISTINE 

I'm Still Here

Hi, lovely friends!  Just a note to let you know that I am, indeed, still here and will begin posting creative goodies again this week.  I have missed you all very much, but I've been having some issues which have kept me away.  No nothing serious; just enough to keep me out of things.  Also, I'll be making my way around visiting as many of you as I can in the coming days; you are all so very inspiring.

So, I hope you'll be back to visit.  I already have a few things to show you.  I just need to get them into my computer! lol  Thanks for stopping by.

Here's to getting my own creative genie-ous flowing again......................

CHRISTINE